📖 Red City

Have you ever seen The Godfather? No? Well, me neither. One of those little author review blurbs mentioned something about it, though, so I did a little digging. Turns out, the Godfather dumbed down really hard is basically a story about different crime families and their underground operations throughout the city. So, yeah. Pretty Red City core. Now take that idea: One of incredibly rich crime families and them pulling strings out of the public eye. Then imagine if we had magic in there, too. Boom! And that's Red City. The magic system in Red City is pretty complex and intricate, so I'll explain that first. The magic system, called alchemy, consists of five main types of magic, each with their corresponding "alchemists." The first are the bioalchemists, who focus on transmuting matter, whether organic and inorganic. They can turn any material into anything else: a large stick into a gun, a deflated balloon into a knife, some saltwater into acid. Then come the philosophers, the most valuable from the lot. They can create this special borderline-a-drug substance called "sand," which enhances all your physical properties. While under its effects, it makes you more attractive, faster, smarter, etc. They're basically how syndicates, which are basically the "crime families" in this story, make money. Philosophers are also the most valuable and vulnerable of the lot, which means they're the backbone of most syndicates. Next comes polemy, which is kind of like bioalchemy but primarily for combat purposes, elementalism, which is control over natural elements like fire and water, and alchemistry, which is the art of using alchemy to heal others. Anyway, the story centers around two different alchemists: Ari, who's this guy who came from India as a child after catching the eye of an alchemist working for the Lumines syndicate, and Samantha Lang, who became an alchemist after a syndicate called Grand Central recruited her. The two were trained in secret by their respective syndicates, but they developed a close, intimate bond as classmates. They were the only two who actually talked to each other, so they became quick friends. Ari had this natural draw to him, and people seemed to pay attention to him no matter how hard he didn't want the spotlight. Sam is the exact opposite, having this knack to disappear. People didn't seem to notice her, no matter what. After their training is complete, Ari becomes a powerful and extremely charismatic bioalchemist who took on the moniker "Shakespeare." Sam becomes a polemist, basically an assassin, and takes on the title of "Mozart." What they don't know is that they both work for different syndicates, and they don't know how the other will act when they inevitably meet each other on their syndicate's bloody plans. I liked this book. I liked this book a lot. There was a lot of extreme emotional depth that I don't think you see a lot in normal fantasy books. The incorporation of actual magic into modern society and as glorified mafias was done finely as well. Marie Lu truly thought of everything in worldbuilding: how the syndicates make money, their relations to one another, how they fight, how fragile one is compared to the next, etc. Overall, a great read. Recommended for those who watched The Godfather, fantasy fans, or any longtime Marie Lu readers.

你看过《教父》吗? 没有?嗯,我也没有。不过我在某个作者推荐语里看到有人提到了它,于是就去简单了解了一下。结果发现,把《教父》极度简化之后,本质上就是一个关于不同犯罪家族,以及他们如何在城市暗处操纵地下势力的故事。 所以,没错——这太有 Red City 的味道了。 现在把这个设定升级一下: 一个极其富有、在公众视线之外操控一切的犯罪家族。 再加上——魔法。 砰!这就是《Red City》。 《Red City》的魔法体系非常复杂精细,所以我先从这里说起。这个魔法系统被称为炼金术(Alchemy),一共分为五大类型,每一类都有对应的"炼金术士"。 第一类是生体炼金术士(Bioalchemists),他们专注于物质转化,无论是有机还是无机。他们可以把任何材料变成任何东西: 一根粗木棍变成一把枪, 一个瘪掉的气球变成一把刀, 甚至把盐水变成强酸。 接下来是哲人(Philosophers),也是所有炼金术士中最有价值的一类。他们能制造一种特殊的、几乎等同于毒品的物质,叫做"沙(sand)"。这种东西可以全面强化人的身体素质:在作用期间,你会变得更好看、更快、更聪明,等等。 基本上,这是各大辛迪加(Syndicates)——也就是故事里的"犯罪家族"——赚钱的核心方式。 因此,哲人既是最有价值的存在,也是最脆弱、最容易被控制的。他们几乎是所有辛迪加的经济命脉。 第三类是战炼术(Polemy),可以理解为偏向战斗用途的生体炼金术; 第四类是元素炼金术(Elementalism),掌控自然元素,比如火、水等; 第五类是炼医术(Alchemistry),也就是利用炼金术来治疗他人。 故事主要围绕两位炼金术士展开: 第一位是阿里(Ari)。他小时候从印度来到这里,因为被光辉辛迪加(Lumines)的一名炼金术士注意到而被带走培养。 第二位是萨曼莎·朗(Samantha Lang),她则被另一个辛迪加——大中央(Grand Central)——招募,最终成为炼金术士。 他们分别由各自的辛迪加秘密训练,却在作为同学时建立起了一段亲密而深刻的关系。在训练期间,他们几乎是唯一会彼此交谈的人,因此很快成为朋友。 阿里身上有一种天然的吸引力。无论他多么不想站在聚光灯下,人们都会不由自主地注意到他。 而萨姆恰恰相反——她有一种"消失"的能力。无论她走到哪里,别人似乎都会下意识忽略她的存在。 训练结束后,阿里成为了一名极其强大、极富个人魅力的生体炼金术士,并取名号为**"莎士比亚(Shakespeare)"。 萨姆则成为了一名战炼术士,本质上是一名刺客,她的代号是"莫扎特(Mozart)"**。 他们并不知道,彼此效忠的是不同的辛迪加;也不知道,当他们最终在各自辛迪加血腥而残酷的计划中再次相遇时,对方会做出怎样的选择。 我喜欢这本书。 真的,非常喜欢。 它所展现出的情感深度,是你在很多普通奇幻小说中很少见到的。把真正的魔法引入现代社会,并将其与"地下黑帮"结构相结合的设定,完成得极其出色。 玛丽·卢在世界观构建上几乎考虑到了所有细节: 辛迪加如何赚钱, 彼此之间的关系, 他们如何交战, 以及不同势力之间的脆弱与强弱对比。 总的来说,这是一本非常棒的作品。 强烈推荐给看过《教父》的人、奇幻文学爱好者,或者任何玛丽·卢的老读者。